Once again, dear blog, I have neglected thee.  Forgive me, won't you?

Life has been crazy.  I put in a lot of overtime in January and February.  It was grueling.  God has a purpose for everything, though.  As exhausting as it was, it gave me the funds to purchase a new car two weeks ago.  

Speaking of God, He has a funny way of weaving blessings into disasters.

On April 1st, Nathan and I woke up and proceeded to partake in our Wednesday morning ritual:  breakfast at Shari's/IHOP/Elmer's/whatever tickles our fancy.  I stepped outside and noticed my car was absent from it's parking space.  Twenty minutes later, I had filed a police report and was on the phone with my insurance company filing a claim, having driven around the parking lot of my apartment complex and drilling the front office folks if any cars had been towed from the lot the night before (none had).  The Beaverton police officer who filed the stolen vehicle report for my 1991 Toyta Camry educated me on the finer points of car theft, i.e. that the 1991 Toyta Camry is a popular car in the "stolen" category because it's easy to break into and start with a "jiggle key" (a key that's been filed down, making it easy to trigger the tumbler inside the locking mechanism and the ignition).  She also mentioned that older Toyota Camrys are the most commonly stolen vehicles reported in the state of Oregon.  Awesome.

This was turning into a lousy April Fool's prank.

At 1:45 the following morning, I received a phone call from the Beaverton Police dispatch service.  They had found my car in the parking lot of the Shari's Restaurant kitty-corner from Sunset High School.  It wouldn't start.  I had to come inspect it before they could take it out of the stolen vehicle registry.  So Nathan and I drove to North Beaverton.  The car wouldn't start, but it looked okay.  Upon further inspection I discovered that the culprits had stolen two of my jackets, several blankets and my Netflix travel mug.  The jackets weren't so important, but I was livid over my stolen travel mug.  The owner's manual had been removed from the glove compartment and thrown into my lunch bag from the previous work day.  There were no auto body shops open to have my car towed to, so we headed back home.  I slept for two more hours before I had to head into work.

After working a few hours of my shift, I headed back to my little car to have it towed and inspected.  The thief had worn the breaks down to the metal and had sliced the CV boots, making my car very unsafe to drive.  It was becoming very clear that I wouldn't be able to rely on my little Camry for much longer.

I'd been planning on purchasing a new car since Nathan and I moved back to Oregon.  Basically, the theft of my Camry just expedited the process.  Going back to God, I realized that had I not been forced to put in all that overtime December through February, I wouldn't have had the money as quickly as I did to put a down payment on the 2003 Subaru Forester now parked outside my apartment.  And the whole experience, while incredibly disturbing, made me appreciate all the things I take for granted.  I used to complain about how crappy my old car was when I should've just been happy to have a car period.  It was definitely a spiritual teachable moment.

In other news, I am elated that spring is finally here!  Megan and I visited the Wooden Shoe Farm Tulip Festival, went wine tasting in Aurora and then hit up the outlet stores in Woodburn for some hardcore bargain shopping.  Nathan and I are planning a trip to Vegas, so I bought some cute outfits for our vacation next month.

I'm also teaching a Shakespeare class to some middle schoolers through a non-profit community theatre group.  It would actually be more appropriate to say that they're teaching me; they're incredibly bright and grasping all the concepts and lesson plans that I've thrown at them.  I wish all tweens were as smart as they are!  It's been incredibly fulfilling.

Time to settle down for a cozy Saturday evening at home.